US says al-Qaida magazine got into Guantanamo cell

FILE - This Oct. 12, 2000, file image, provided by the U.S. Navy, shows damage sustained on the USS Cole after a terrorist bomb exploded during a refueling operation in the port of Aden, Yemen, killing 17 sailors. A copy of a magazine published by an arm of al-Qaida made its way to a terror suspect at the Guantanamo Bay prison, leading to an inspection of cells and a contentious new policy requiring special review teams to examine correspondence between prisoners and attorneys, U.S. prosecutors said Wednesday. (AP Photo/U.S. Navy, File)
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FILE - This Oct. 12, 2000, file image, provided by the U.S. Navy, shows damage sustained on the USS Cole after a terrorist bomb exploded during a refueling operation in the port of Aden, Yemen, killing 17 sailors. A copy of a magazine published by an arm of al-Qaida made its way to a terror suspect at the Guantanamo Bay prison, leading to an inspection of cells and a contentious new policy requiring special review teams to examine correspondence between prisoners and attorneys, U.S. prosecutors said Wednesday. (AP Photo/U.S. Navy, File)
/ AP

FILE - This Nov. 9, 2011, file artist rendering by courtroom artist Janet Hamlin, reviewed by the U.S. military, shows Abd Al Rahim Hussayn Muhammad Al Nashiri, accused of setting up the bombing of the USS Cole, is depicted during his military commissions arraignment at the Guantanamo Bay detention center in Guantanamo, Cuba. A copy of a magazine published by an arm of al-Qaida made its way to a terror suspect at the Guantanamo Bay prison, leading to an inspection of cells and a contentious new policy requiring special review teams to examine correspondence between prisoners and attorneys, U.S. prosecutors said Wednesday. (AP Photo/Janet Hamlin, File)— AP

FILE - This Nov. 9, 2011, file artist rendering by courtroom artist Janet Hamlin, reviewed by the U.S. military, shows Abd Al Rahim Hussayn Muhammad Al Nashiri, accused of setting up the bombing of the USS Cole, is depicted during his military commissions arraignment at the Guantanamo Bay detention center in Guantanamo, Cuba. A copy of a magazine published by an arm of al-Qaida made its way to a terror suspect at the Guantanamo Bay prison, leading to an inspection of cells and a contentious new policy requiring special review teams to examine correspondence between prisoners and attorneys, U.S. prosecutors said Wednesday. (AP Photo/Janet Hamlin, File)
/ AP

FILE - In this Oct. 15, 2000 file photo, investigators on a speed boat examine the hull of the USS Cole at the Yemeni port of Aden after a terrorist explosion ripped a hole in the destroyer, killing 17 sailors. A copy of a magazine published by an arm of al-Qaida made its way to a terror suspect at the Guantanamo Bay prison, leading to an inspection of cells and a contentious new policy requiring special review teams to examine correspondence between prisoners and attorneys, U.S. prosecutors said Wednesday. (AP Photo/Dimitri Messinis, File)— AP

FILE - In this Oct. 15, 2000 file photo, investigators on a speed boat examine the hull of the USS Cole at the Yemeni port of Aden after a terrorist explosion ripped a hole in the destroyer, killing 17 sailors. A copy of a magazine published by an arm of al-Qaida made its way to a terror suspect at the Guantanamo Bay prison, leading to an inspection of cells and a contentious new policy requiring special review teams to examine correspondence between prisoners and attorneys, U.S. prosecutors said Wednesday. (AP Photo/Dimitri Messinis, File)
/ AP

FORT MEADE, Md. 
A copy of a magazine published by an arm of al-Qaida made its way to a terror suspect at the Guantanamo Bay prison, leading to an inspection of cells and a contentious new policy requiring special review teams to examine correspondence between prisoners and attorneys, U.S. prosecutors said Wednesday.

Navy Cmdr. Andrea Lockhart told a military judge during a pre-trial hearing that a copy of Inspire magazine got into a cell. She provided no details on who received the magazine or how. But she said the breach showed that prior rules at the base governing mail review were not adequate. Yemen's al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula launched the online, English-language magazine in 2010. An early issue contained tips to would-be militants about how to kill U.S. citizens.

Lockhart is part of the U.S. team prosecuting the case against Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, a Saudi national charged with orchestrating the attack in 2000 on the USS Cole that killed 17 sailors. Al-Nashiri, 47, is considered one of the most senior al-Qaida leaders. He has been held at the U.S. Naval Base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, since 2006 after spending several years held by the CIA in a series of secret prisons.

Rick Kammen, a civilian attorney for al-Nashiri, told reporters on that his client was not the recipient of the magazine and was not involved in the incident.

How mail between Guantanamo prisoners and their attorneys should be handled consumed several hours of the al-Nashiri's pre-trial session on Tuesday and Wednesday. At issue is whether even a cursory examination of the legal correspondence violates the attorney-client privilege.

The dispute reflects the untested nature of this latest attempt to resume the military tribunals at Guantanamo. The prosecution of al-Nashiri is already underway and the U.S. is preparing to prosecute five other prisoners accused in the Sept. 11 attacks, yet defense lawyers and government prosecutors are still fighting to establish basic legal ground rules.

The military commission system has been revised by the Obama administration and Congress, which has refused to allow the administration to move prisoners from the American base in Cuba. The trial system is still sharply criticized by civil and human rights groups and defense lawyers who say the procedures favor the prosecution. Kammen has called the military commissions a "second-class system of justice."

But former members of the Cole crew and family members of several of the sailors killed on the ship who spoke to reporters at Guantanamo on Wednesday said al-Nashiri is getting better legal treatment than he deserves. "It's been over 11 years now since the Cole was bombed," retired Chief Petty Officer Paul Abney said.

He urged that the military commission be allowed to do its work, adding: "They are doing their job to be as fair and honest as possible."

Al-Nashiri's defense team, as well as the lawyers for other Guantanamo prisoners and the chief defense counsel for the military commissions, are opposed to the security review of legal mail, which was put in place last month by Navy Rear Adm. David Woods, the prison commander.